Liverpool enter talks with Saudi Arabian and Qatari consortiums over a potential £3BILLION takeover

[dockers_strike]

2 hours ago, an tha said:

Why pay 4bn for us when you can pay 300m for Everton or Fulham or somebody and spend 1bn on players to win league etc.

 

The shite would cost almost a billion not £300m though. They have £350m of debt and the stadium build was quoted as £760m by Moshiri recently. Allowing for some of the shite's £350m debt already includes say £150m for the stadium, clubs like Leeds in the PL or Sunderland in the Championship would be a better bet. Both one club cities and Sunderland with a huge catchment area and relatively new 50,000 seater stadium capable of expansion..

 

Personally, I dont see us being sold while the price tag is 3 billion quid or more.

[navbasi]

2 hours ago, Harry Squatter said:

James Pearce already laying the FSG groundwork saying no signings this month and lack of CL football will impact upon summer transfers.

 

Wish they would just fuck off now, their mingebag penny pinching ways are depressing. 

 

Liverpool selling players to fund Bellingham-led rebuild looks harder than before

 

You have to go back to 2014-15 for the last time Liverpool reached the halfway stage of a Premier League season with so few points.

 

Rewind eight years and the wheels had come off following the departure of Luis Suarez to Barcelona. Manager Brendan Rodgers was cursing the decision to replace him with Mario Balotelli.

 

Liverpool, who had collected just 28 points from the opening 57 on offer, ended up limping home in sixth place and dropping into the Europa League. Rodgers was on borrowed time.

This season’s crop find themselves just one point better off after 19 league matches and facing the growing threat of not qualifying for the Champions League.

 

In six full seasons in charge at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp has overseen finishes in fourth, fourth, second, first, third and second. The riches and prestige of Champions League qualification have been a constant. “Always the main target,” is the manager’s assessment.

 

Klopp has led Liverpool to three of the past five finals of Europe’s elite club competition. So many spine-tingling nights, so many cherished memories, so much revenue generated.

 

Last season’s thrilling run to Paris was worth around £100million ($124million) to the club. It was the leap in broadcast money and matchday income that helped Liverpool climb from seventh to third in the recently published Deloitte Football Money League, putting them above Manchester United for the first time in the rankings’ 26-year history, with annual revenues for 2021-22 of £594million. Some 62 per cent of that figure (£368million) was spent on wages.

 

Missing out on the Champions League spots this season would leave a sizeable hole in the finances at a time when Liverpool’s rebuild needs to be backed with some serious cash. Securing a deal for top summer target Jude Bellingham would certainly become a lot more challenging to pull off.

 

Who is going to pick up the tab for what’s required? Will Klopp have to lower his sights?

Much depends on what happens with the owners over the coming months. Fenway Sports Group has yet to receive the kind of offers it was expecting for Liverpool, but that process is ongoing and could change fast. Uncertainty reigns.

 

New investment — and senior FSG figures insist selling a minority stake is more likely than a full takeover — would boost the funds available to Klopp to strengthen the squad.

With James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Roberto Firmino out of contract in the summer and Arthur returning to Juventus after his loan spell, there’s much to sort out.

 

For Liverpool, who have one eye on the summer, there are not many avenues to raise significant amounts of money from selling players on the fringes of the squad.

Last summer, Takumi Minamino, Neco Williams and Ben Davies went for a combined sum of £36.5million. A year earlier, Liverpool deals worth nearly £40million were agreed to offload Marko Grujic, Taiwo Awoniyi, Harry Wilsonand Xherdan Shaqiri. In 2020, it was £37million from the sale of youngsters Ki-Jana Hoever and Rhian Brewster.

 

Liverpool have bought well during Klopp’s reign but they have sold even better. But who is next? There are few obvious contenders. Talented Irish goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher is one given his desire to play more regularly, while centre-back Nathaniel Phillips is another, but their fees combined wouldn’t put much of a dent in Borussia Dortmund’s asking price for Bellingham.

 

A pivotal moment in Klopp’s reign was the sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £142million midway through 2017-18, as it gave Liverpool the financial might to buy Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, the two most transformative signings the club has made in the Premier League era. However, there isn’t currently an asset at the club who would generate that sort of windfall.

 

Of course, it’s not all about throwing money at it. Let’s not forget, Andrew Robertson was plucked from relegated Hull City for £10million. Harvey Elliottcost £4.3million and Stefan Bajcetic just £220,000. Trent Alexander-Arnolddidn’t cost a penny. Klopp’s commitment to developing talent rather than buying the finished article remains as strong as ever.

 

But the size of the challenge keeps getting bigger. Having been locked in a battle with Manchester City for so long, Liverpool now find themselves looking up at a resurgent Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle United among others.

 

That’s before you even mention Chelsea, who fought out a dour goalless draw at Anfield on Saturday.

 

Klopp described the performance as a “little step” forward and Liverpool kept their first clean sheet in the Premier League since October. But it was an instantly forgettable contest that showed why the two clubs, who have both won the Champions League in the past four years and met in last season’s two domestic cup finals at Wembley, now occupy mid-table mediocrity. So disjointed, so scrappy, so lacking in belief.

 

Chelsea are trying to get themselves out of that slump with the most lavish of spending sprees. The Todd Boehly-led consortium has splashed out around £450million in the transfer market in the past seven months.

For context, if you add up the cost of Klopp’s signings from Cody Gakpo earlier this month 

and work your way backwards, you have to go all the way to the summer of 2018 to reach that kind of overall figure.

 

“Chelsea sorts the problems differently to us,” Klopp admitted on the eve of the contest.

Given the impact of £88million winger Mykhailo Mudryk off the bench on Saturday and the return of Joao Felix from suspension, Graham Potter’s side will surely start to climb upwards.

 

What about Liverpool? Their hopes of launching a push towards the top four rest on getting key personnel fit and firing again rather than entering the transfer market. The returns of Diogo Jota, Van Dijk, Firmino and Luis Diazwill certainly help, but the fear is they have so much ground to make up and so much improvement needed.

 

Based on the past five seasons, the average points total for the fourth-placed Premier League team has been 70 points. Reaching that amount would require Liverpool to take 41 points out of the remaining 57. They have given themselves a mountain to climb.

 

And if they don’t scale it and there is no Champions League football at Anfield next season, the task of refreshing this squad and getting back to competing for the biggest prizes will be even harder.

[Lee909]

I'm not sure how anyone is going to be able to compete soon. The amounts of money needed in wages and transfers is fucking ridiculous 

[Megadrive Man]

It seems like we’re heading in to Hicks and Gillette territory now with these owners. I remember when they tried to find investment for the team but surprisingly not many people want to pay huge amounts of money to have a minority share in a football club.  Why would you pay 600 to 900 million to have a small share in this club when you could buy another team for less than that amount and have full ownership?

FSG are tying to have their cake and eat it. Chelsea was sold less than a year ago, United seem to be edging closer to a full sale too despite having a much higher price than we do and needing around 1 to 2 billion to be spent on either refurbing or replacing their stadium. 

 

FSG need to realise that they’ve gone as far as they can with us now. The team needs huge investment, yet they are already rolling out excuses about missing out on top four and relying on the sale of fringe players to fund a rebuild! It won’t even get close!  The struggles we’ve seen this year will only get worse if Arsenal and Newcastle push further ahead by actually building on success rather than standing still. 

 

If FSG are still here in the summer then it’s back to the years of mediocrity, 4th place being the very best we can hope for but more likely we’ll be in the Europa League. 
 

[Carra_is_legend]

If Barcelona had a sane person from a football & accounting perspective, we wouldn't have won the title and european cup. 

[Red Hot]

I read today in one of the rags that Red Socks are giving FSG a hard time over lack of investment. So we are not the only FSG club that is in drastic need of investment. 

[TheHowieLama]

33 minutes ago, Megadrive Person said:

FSG are tying to have their cake and eat it. Chelsea was sold less than a year ago, United seem to be edging closer to a full sale too despite having a much higher price than we do and needing around 1 to 2 billion to be spent on either refurbing or replacing their stadium. 

 

 

What do you think LFC is worth?

[Megadrive Man]

1 minute ago, TheHowieLama said:

 

What do you think LFC is worth?

 

Three billion is the price that I've seen mentioned. 

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

3 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

 

What do you think LFC is worth?

£1.5bn.

[TheHowieLama]

5 minutes ago, Megadrive Person said:

 

Three billion is the price that I've seen mentioned. 

Yea, except you seem to be saying that the club is overvalued as Chelsea sold quickly and United look to be as well. You then pointed out someone could buy a club - That I assume you mean would be able to compete at the highest levels -  for a tenth of that.

How much do you think the club is actually worth?

[Megadrive Man]

11 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Yea, except you seem to be saying that the club is overvalued as Chelsea sold quickly and United look to be as well. You then pointed out someone could buy a club - That I assume you mean would be able to compete at the highest levels -  for a tenth of that.

How much do you think the club is actually worth?

 

I don't think the club is being overvalued. I think three billion is fair compared to the Chelsea price and the estimated price of United. 

 

The point I'm making is that it makes very little sense to spend a huge amount of money to just be a minority investor, which is probably why FSG are struggling to get an offer in.

 

The QSI rumour was that they were prepared to invest in Liverpool but wanted a higher percentage of the club than FSG were prepared to offer. 

 

FSG need to go now. If they cling to the club thinking that the sale of Nat Phillips and Kelleher will give us a decent rebuild in the summer they are living in cloud cuckoo land! 

[Scott_M]

1 hour ago, Megadrive Person said:

 

I don't think the club is being overvalued. I think three billion is fair compared to the Chelsea price and the estimated price of United. 

 

The point I'm making is that it makes very little sense to spend a huge amount of money to just be a minority investor, which is probably why FSG are struggling to get an offer in.

 

The QSI rumour was that they were prepared to invest in Liverpool but wanted a higher percentage of the club than FSG were prepared to offer. 

 

FSG need to go now. If they cling to the club thinking that the sale of Nat Phillips and Kelleher will give us a decent rebuild in the summer they are living in cloud cuckoo land! 

I get we are currently miles from where we want / need to be, I think you might to relax a little. 
 

The point of why investors will pay the huge bucks for Liverpool is because it’s Liverpool. Despite the shite on the pitch this season, we have a phenomenal stadium & training facilities, a squad full of world class players, one the best (if not the best) manager in the world and the club is on a very, very sound financial footing - there are many reasons to invest in Liverpool, to compare us to Fulham or The Ev is laughable.

 

Nobody really knows what QSI / QIA / whoever are doing at the moment. If QSI want a controlling share, they need to sell PSG first. There is no news on them breaking off negotiations. Who knows what’s happening. Unfortunately we’re likely to have weeks of this yet. 
 

Believe me I’m as frustrated as any supporter about the way this season has gone, I think FSG realise they’ve gone as far as they can, hence the calls for investment / sale. 

[Moo]

The good thing, for FSG, is that they can drag this "for sale" story out for a very long time with a continuous excuse for not spending.  It's from the Mike Ashley playbook.

[Scott_M]

Pearce loves that type of article, the frog / burger faced twat. 
 

I have to admit, I’m fucking sick of reading them and hearing the same stuff. 
 

I suppose we’ll save wages on Ox (£120k p/w), Keita (£120k p/w), Arthur (£86k p/w) and Adrian (£58k p/w). Possibly Milner (£140k p/w) and Firmino (£180k p/w) as well - that could be between c.£20-£35m per year. 
 

We could likely get £50m+ for Keheller, Phillips & Jones. 
 

Then, how much do we really need? 2 midfielders, minimum. If it’s Belligham + somebody else, that’s likely >£150m. 
 

Personally, I think another centre back as well.

 

We could get a few free transfers (Skiniar, N’Dicka, Tielemans, Rabiot) and I don’t mind that if it allows us to nail our top targets, even I’m getting fed up of us constantly crying poverty. 

[John102]

27 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

even I’m getting fed up of us constantly crying poverty. 

Lawdamercy

[dockers_strike]

3 hours ago, Megadrive Person said:

It seems like we’re heading in to Hicks and Gillette territory now with these owners. I remember when they tried to find investment for the team but surprisingly not many people want to pay huge amounts of money to have a minority share in a football club.  Why would you pay 600 to 900 million to have a small share in this club when you could buy another team for less than that amount and have full ownership?

FSG are tying to have their cake and eat it. Chelsea was sold less than a year ago, United seem to be edging closer to a full sale too despite having a much higher price than we do and needing around 1 to 2 billion to be spent on either refurbing or replacing their stadium. 

 

FSG need to realise that they’ve gone as far as they can with us now. The team needs huge investment, yet they are already rolling out excuses about missing out on top four and relying on the sale of fringe players to fund a rebuild! It won’t even get close!  The struggles we’ve seen this year will only get worse if Arsenal and Newcastle push further ahead by actually building on success rather than standing still. 

 

If FSG are still here in the summer then it’s back to the years of mediocrity, 4th place being the very best we can hope for but more likely we’ll be in the Europa League. 
 

 

I dont understand why some people says 'Why would someone pay for part ownership of the club?'

 

Turn the question back is, why do you think all investors want to fully own a football club as opposed to 'part ownership'?

 

Some investors  do not want to take on full ownership but they want to be onboard as investors in the club. A part ownership could be anyone who might advance the club in a digital market or just want the part ownership and using that as a door opening into other markets etc.

 

There are more ways to skin a cat.

[navbasi]

1 hour ago, Moo said:

The good thing, for FSG, is that they can drag this "for sale" story out for a very long time with a continuous excuse for not spending.  It's from the Mike Ashley playbook.

If that's their plan (which I don't think it is) then they can kiss goodbye to their £3bn+ valuation as one bad season (out of CL etc) won't have much effect, but if one season turns into 2-3 then I'd assume a buyer would be able to negotiate a lower price. Dragging this out really isn't in their benefit..

 

As mentioned in another post, in the coming seasons we'll now be competing with City, Utd, Chelsea, Newcastle and maybe Arsenal so FSG will know they'll have to provide significant funds to just compete.

 

This would the ideal time for them to exit. They'll leave the club in a fantastic financial footing, great infrastructure and walk away with a nice £3bn in their back pocket which they can invest in their new venture of a NBA team while we get someone with deep pockets to take us to the next level....

[TheHowieLama]

3 minutes ago, navbasi said:

As mentioned in another post, in the coming seasons we'll now be competing with City, Utd, Chelsea, Newcastle and maybe Arsenal so FSG will know they'll have to provide significant funds to just compete.

 

Does this mean the club cannot compete with the revenue it generates?

[kemskem]

9 hours ago, beejay said:

Abu Dhabi bought Manchester City, an average club with a string of previous bad owners who were in the shadow of their city neighbours. 

Abramovich bought Chelsea, the poor relations in London with one title in their history and a much derided owner who flirted with relegation and bankruptcy. 

Saudi Arabia bought a club with no trophies for 40 odd years and a penny pinching owner as they scraped along the basement of the League every year. 

On this trend, Everton are a much more likely candidate for the Qataris than us. 

What would we all think of that?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’d think if it happened after the protests, the stands would be empty every week because they’ve got too much class and dignity.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Have the football authorities not thought that the 3rd highest earning club in world football struggling to compete financially might be a bad sign for the long term future of the game.

[Barrington Womble]

9 hours ago, beejay said:

Abu Dhabi bought Manchester City, an average club with a string of previous bad owners who were in the shadow of their city neighbours. 

Abramovich bought Chelsea, the poor relations in London with one title in their history and a much derided owner who flirted with relegation and bankruptcy. 

Saudi Arabia bought a club with no trophies for 40 odd years and a penny pinching owner as they scraped along the basement of the League every year. 

On this trend, Everton are a much more likely candidate for the Qataris than us. 

What would we all think of that?

 

They've got their corrupt owner à la Chelsea already. 

 

7 hours ago, navbasi said:

For them £4bn is nothing though... They've just spent £200bn hosting a World Cup for 5 weeks.... QIA have assets worth over £400bn... £4bn is probably a price worth paying for them to have LFC as their flag ship "brand" on their letterheads...

 

Exactly. 

 

2 hours ago, Megadrive Person said:

 

I don't think the club is being overvalued. I think three billion is fair compared to the Chelsea price and the estimated price of United. 

 

The point I'm making is that it makes very little sense to spend a huge amount of money to just be a minority investor, which is probably why FSG are struggling to get an offer in.

 

The QSI rumour was that they were prepared to invest in Liverpool but wanted a higher percentage of the club than FSG were prepared to offer. 

 

FSG need to go now. If they cling to the club thinking that the sale of Nat Phillips and Kelleher will give us a decent rebuild in the summer they are living in cloud cuckoo land! 

 

FSG itself is full of minority investors. They're not a living breathing thing themselves, they're just a bunch of people who decided they could make more money out of sport than doing other forms of business and the ROI they have in Liverpool suggests they're right. It's probably not a model to suit a sportswashing state, but there are likely lots of private investors who would enjoy a 10-20% investment in a football club and all the ego trappings that brings and allow someone else to look after their investment. It's pretty much what all the investors in FSG do with Henry and Werner. 

 

1 hour ago, Moo said:

The good thing, for FSG, is that they can drag this "for sale" story out for a very long time with a continuous excuse for not spending.  It's from the Mike Ashley playbook.

Bang on. 

[navbasi]

7 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Does this mean the club cannot compete with the revenue it generates?

The club doesn't have any debt (other than the 10 year loan for the main stand that was provided by FSG)... We might have generated £600m in revenues, it's not profit.. If we want to spend £200m+ on players in the summer, then that money has to come from somewhere, either from the owners who put it on the club as debt or it comes from outside investment... without those two things then the club doesn't generate enough for us to spend the money we need and want, so in short... no we wouldn't be able to compete IMHO if the others are spending hundreds of millions...

[TheHowieLama]

3 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

FSG itself is full of minority investors. They're not a living breathing thing themselves,

 

Bang on. 

 

By defintion they are a living and breathing thing like any other LLC.

 

If Ashley is a like for like model then their valuation will be unaffected by success. His wasn't.

[navbasi]

10 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

FSG itself is full of minority investors. They're not a living breathing thing themselves, they're just a bunch of people who decided they could make more money out of sport than doing other forms of business and the ROI they have in Liverpool suggests they're right. It's probably not a model to suit a sportswashing state, but there are likely lots of private investors who would enjoy a 10-20% investment in a football club and all the ego trappings that brings and allow someone else to look after their investment. It's pretty much what all the investors in FSG do with Henry and Werner. 

Partners in Fenway Sports Group LLC as of 5 April 2022 include:

 

Arctos Sports Partners

Bruce Rauner

Chris Fillo

David Ginsberg

Ed Weiss

Frank M. Resnek

Gary Kaneb

Greg Morris

Henry F. McCance

Herbert Wagner

Jimmy Lovine

John W. Henry (Principal owner)

Larry Lucchino

Laura Trust

LeBron James

Linda P. Henry

Maverick Carter

Michael J. Egan

Michael Pucker

Michael S. Gordon (President, FSG)

Mitchell Jacobson

Patrick Egan

Paul Wachter

Phillip H. Morse

RedBird Capital Partners

Richard Warke

Sam Kennedy

Seth Klarman

Teddy Werner

Theodore Alfond

Thomas C. Werner (Chairman)

Thomas R. DiBenedetto

William Alfond

 

Henry is the largest owner of stock at 40%, followed by Werner and Gordon.

[navbasi]

28 minutes ago, Bobby Hundreds said:

Have the football authorities not thought that the 3rd highest earning club in world football struggling to compete financially might be a bad sign for the long term future of the game.

They're hoping that Qatar comes to their rescue before any questions are asked..... A bit like they're all hoping that Arsenal win the league and then they can say... "See, you don't need State money to compete.. Arsenal just did it...."